Socred gains 25 per cent in membership
I Social Credit expects to ' have 20,000 members at the lend of the year, an increase of 25 per cent on last year’s record numbers. . The league's president (Mr S. Lipa) has said in Christchurch that political parties usually experienced a drop in membership and support in the year after an Selection.
“We are finding now that our membership this year is even higher than in election year,” he said. The league had 16,000 members at the General i Election, and the increase in
membership this year has been a uniform rate in most electorates, according to Mr Lipa. As for public support of the league, he said that public opinion polls spoke for themselves. Mr Lipa was in Christchurch as part of a tour of 13 centres in which he is helping to organise the
league's SIM fund-raising campaign for the Bruce Bee-tham-Jeremy Dwyer Foundation. The foundation will provide a “working fund,” about half of which will be spent on the 1981 election* campaign. Mr Lipa said the league' was confident of reaching the SIM target, and he was ! pleased with the organisation he had seen around New Zealand. Fund-raising i would become more intensive from February. He said that the recent controversy about alleged
infiltration of the league by the Right-wing League of Rights had not harmed Social Credit. The problem had been limited to one or two areas in the South Island. The Social Credif Otago regional spokesman (Mr M, J. Sheppard) resigned last month because of the involvement of another member, Mrs Joy Clapham. in i the League of Rights. Mrs ’ Clapham forfeited her membership of the Social Credit 1 Political League when she chose to remain with the League of Rights. Mr Lipa said that no other members of Social Credit had resigned, in spite of Mrs .Clapham's assertion that many Social Creditors did not want her to resign. “Every political party has its problem spots. It is no use pretending they do not. But this has done us no harm,” he said.
Mr Lipa’s tour has taken him to Matemata, Hastings, Fe i 1 d i n g , Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill. He will visit Greymouth. Nelson and Wellington today, and will hold meetings in Wellington and Auckland today, finishing at Whangarei tomorrow. He has been president of the league for three months
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Press, 4 December 1979, Page 10
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396Socred gains 25 per cent in membership Press, 4 December 1979, Page 10
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